A clearer view

Summer. The heat waves caressed the image as if it were a shimmering desert mirage. Wafting back and forth in clarity and near illusion like an object obscured by a solid sheet of water...........falling. There, but not precisely still. Wind blowing but not cooling. Refracting light through curved paths of confusion. Hot. Wicked heat. Beating down......and yet upward in collusion with wind to blind. Stifling. Can't breath. Sweat pours from brow to sting and blind.

"One minute left, now."

Without hesitation, I reached to adjust windage in truth observed. Ignore all else but what is seen.

"Breathe........slow breaths..........relax"

Calm the heart. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Calm the desire. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Calm the impulse. The sound of heart-beats like horse hooves clopping along cobblestones and swaying back felt in every pulse. Echoing throughout my body. BOOM............Boom..................boom

The strap was cinched tight. Connected from butt plate to fore-end. Wrapped so tightly around forearm and bicep that each heart pulse is felt and resounding like timpani emphasis for orchestra in chest and ear drums. Pulsing blood through artery and vein bouncing the cross-hairs up and down. Swinging wildly to and fro. Left hand numb from loss of circulation of sling pulled so tight. Tight. So tight. Bound by strap, jacket, and rifle. Right hand free to roam with fingers able to gently pull the stock back into my shoulder. Right index finger caressing a 2 ounce trigger.

"Send it."

Breathe.................exhaling........................CRACK!!!!!

Sharp recoil without reflex. Eyes back centered on target to watch the trail of sound waves, heat, and wind part.

"Hit! Send another." A familiar voice of assurance and trust but not congratulatory. A simple statement of achieving what is desired. Expected.

A smile crosses my face knowing that I'd struck true. Working the bolt without hesitation, another round was readied for the trip of more than half a mile. Heat. Sweat. Constriction. Wind blowing but no respiration granted. Squeeze the strap and lock into position. Bone structure support for a solid base. Breathe. Boom-Boom-Boom. Eye centered and target up. Boom-Boom-Boom. Exhale slowly. Time the bounce of the cross-hairs on target. Know when it settles. Know when to gently squeeze...

An outsider would only observe a person lying prone in sun-beaten August heat with rifle while wrapped in a long sleeve jacket with only a wide brim jungle hat of sorts to shade the sun from his eyes. Perfectly still. Seconds..............minutes drag by and no movement. And, wonder why.

I see only a set of cross hairs bouncing wildly with each heart-beat creating the asymmetric sign of infinity.....but always coming back to rest on center target. The frequency is predictable now. It doesn't matter what the season. Only the wind and light matter today.

My friend was sitting on a folding stool above and behind me peering through a 45 power spotting scope at a target a thousand yards away. Below him on the ground wrapped in a jacket made of many layers of cordura and leather that neither breathed nor gave "cooling" quarter to anyone crazy enough to embrace it, I lay dehydrating. Jacket, sling, rifle, Gehman glove, booney hat, and determination. Windage and elevation were all that mattered.

"Send it."

Breathe...............exhale........................CRACK!!!!!

"Hit!"

A familiar voice of knowledge. A friendly voice of comfort, confidence, and camaraderie. I roll slightly to my left to look back at my friend.................and he is not there.

I awoke to realize my friend had come to visit me one last time on the grounds that we had first met, and last parted in life - the grounds of a competitive rifle range. Maybe not the place most would picture meeting past friends, but to us it was near to heaven.

Life is a bit empty without my friend, and not a day goes by without remembering some of his jokes and funny viewpoints of life. Dan always did have a way of making you look at life through different eyes, and a lesson was to be learned or shared every time. It was always a clearer view......